


First Day

by ddagent



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy Era, F/M, First Meetings, Friendship, Philinda Week, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 06:09:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2955083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddagent/pseuds/ddagent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every friendship starts somewhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Day

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Agents of SHIELD or any of its characters, or settings - all belongs to Marvel and ABC.
> 
> This is my contribution to day two of Philinda Week, "Academy". I absolutely love writing pre-series fic, especially with my favourite two cadets. This was an absolute ton of fun, and I hope you all enjoy!

Phil Coulson let his duffel bag drop from his shoulder to the floor of his new dorm room. A bed frame and a clean mattress were in the right corner, a book shelf that had seen better days standing beside it. There was an empty wardrobe on the left wall, with a reasonably sized desk covered with a set of manuals and guide books waiting to be read. Phil took another step inside his new home for the next four years.

 

He couldn’t stop the grin splitting his face as he realised he was finally _here._

 

All summer he’d been waiting for this day to _finally_ arrive. The date had been circled twice in red on his calendar since he’d signed the admission papers with Agent Fury. He’d kept himself busy, taking extra shifts at work and keeping his stamina up. But every morning he’d crossed off another day until September first. So far it had been everything he’d imagined it to be.

 

Crossing his room, Phil opened the window to gaze out onto the grounds of the Operations campus. Older recruits were running drills, jogging across the courtyard in formation lines and shiny black uniforms. Give it a week and he’d be doing the same, wearing the standard SHIELD black and being pushed to the limit. He could hardly wait. His friends back home were probably in similar dorm rooms, looking forward to lectures and frat parties. But Phil couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

 

“It’s impressive, isn’t it?”

 

Phil turned from the window to see another recruit leaning in his doorway. He was about his age, maybe a couple of years older with a toothpick falling out of his mouth. The new cadet offered his hand and Phil took it with gusto. The other man’s grip was strong, the nails of his fingers almost digging in. Phil gripped back just as hard, assuming that this was some kind of test. The other man just laughed.

 

“It’s good to finally meet you, Coulson. I’m John Garrett, Fury’s other recruit. We’re practically brothers.” Garrett slapped him on his shoulder, hard enough to bruise. “One of the senior cadets told me about a bonfire tonight, no doubt trying to weed out the freshman by how much they can drink. You’ll be my partner in crime, won’t you?”

 

Phil didn’t know what else to do but nod. “Sounds great.”

 

“It does sound great. Fury told me you’re one hell of a guy, can’t wait to see that for myself.” Another slap to the arm, followed by a wink as Garrett strode back into the corridor. “See you tonight.”

 

Phil watched Garrett cross the hall, bumping into another recruit as he returned to his room a few doors down. This corridor was full of freshmen moving in: fresh faced young men just out of college, hardened soldiers seeking a new career. Phil was eighteen, with nothing but a diploma and a series of track and swim medals to his name. He was sure he could hold his own, he hadn’t been pushing himself all summer to fall at the first hurdle. But his excitement began to wane as anxiety took over.  

 

Sighing, Phil took to unpacking his belongings. Most of his things were stored at his grandmother’s house after his family home had sold in the spring. But he had brought a few things with him, a few mementos to make his dorm room feel more like home. Family photographs went on his nightstand, battered crime novels went on the rickety bookshelf. His civilian clothes were folded and put away on the shelves in his wardrobe. He wouldn’t have much need of those till leave in late December.

 

As he placed his father’s clock on the shelves beside his thumbed Captain America comics, Phil realised it was time for Orientation. Pocketing his key card and pulling his door shut, Phil began the unfamiliar route down to the courtyard. With every step, the uneasiness in his stomach increased. He felt out of place in jeans and an old t-shirt, faded by too many washes. It had been such a stupid idea to wear his _Captain America_ t-shirt on his first day, and the subtle sniggers in his direction only proved that. This was the place where Steve Rogers was a historical figure, not just a comic book hero.

 

In the centre of the courtyard, two senior recruits stood in front of a set of tables, fifteen boxes containing uniform and class schedules on top of them. Phil joined the small group of assembled cadets. A quick scan confirmed that he was the youngest, albeit not the smallest. The sinking sensation in his stomach only got worse.  

 

“Okay, do we have everyone here? Ackerman? Coulson?”

 

“Here,” Phil said, raising his right hand. The female recruit, with hair tightly locked in a bun, looked his way. She raised her hand to her mouth, resisting the urge to laugh. _Great._

 

“Okay, May?”

 

A young woman to his left raised her hand. “Present and accounted for.”

 

Phil glanced over at the young woman, his gaze unable to focus on anything else afterwards. She was young, probably no older than nineteen. Small, too, with the tennis shoes she wore. She might even have been half a foot shorter than him. She was exceptionally beautiful. Dark features, long hair flowing over her shoulders onto a supple leather jacket. There had been some pretty girls at his high school, but he’d never seen anything as beautiful as her.

 

“Okay, come and get your boxes.”

 

The girl moved on the cadet’s command, and Phil found himself moving forward too. He found his box easily enough, looking inside to find an athletics kit, a dress uniform and his standard clothes in SHIELD black. His class schedule was printed on a sheet of paper resting on his new shoes. Seeing the schedule reignited the excitement in his belly. Phil couldn’t _wait_ to see what he was doing.

 

As Phil turned to slip back to his dorm room, one of the freshmen fell at his feet. The ground after a summer of no rain smacked straight into their nose, blood staining the grass as he lifted his head. The other senior cadet, an imposing man with dark eyes and crewcut, towered over him. Phil hadn’t caught the freshman’s name, but other than the May girl he had certainly been the weakest of the herd.

 

“Come on, _get up_ Rookie.You think this is bad? You’re at SHIELD now. You can’t handle this, you won’t last one week.”

 

The senior aimed a kick at the freshman’s ribs, the poor kid doubling over in pain. Phil had seen displays like this at high school, the football players with strength and weight using that power against those that were weaker. A small part of him had assumed some hazing at the Academy, typical pranks played on the freshman. He hadn’t imagined anything like _this_. He hadn’t even seen what had started it all.

 

Suddenly, the _senior_ was sprawled at Coulson’s feet. _Finally_ someone had done _something._ But it wasn’t an instructor, or the other senior who had intervened. Instead it was the girl, the slight young woman who didn’t look capable of saying boo to a goose. She stood steadfast; a pillar of protection in front of the rookie curled up on the grass.

 

“You think you’re really tough, don’t you?” the girl, May, scoffed, offering a hand to the cadet beneath her. He clung to her fingers like a lifeline. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own rank?”

 

The senior pushed himself to his feet. He was about a foot taller than the girl, with about twenty pounds more muscle. He was smirking, his eyes narrowing as he weighed up the potential threat in front of him. “You want to go a few rounds with me, sweetheart? Be my guest. I know a few moves that’ll make your panties twitch.”

 

Arrogance was his undoing. May swung out, putting every pound of her weight into her fist as it connected with his face. The senior fell to the grass, blood smeared across his jaw. She hit him again as he tried to get up. But her upper hand didn’t last long, and the senior kicked out and knocked her to the ground. Phil had never considered himself the type to just stand by and watch. But this time he didn’t even realise he’d knocked the asshole out cold until his knuckles bloomed with pain.

 

“I could have handled him, you know. I’ve took on bigger than him.”

 

Of that he had no doubt. Phil looked down at May, her nimble fingers massaging the side of her face that had caught the hard ground. He offered her his hand, but she ignored it as she picked herself up off the floor.  “I’m sure you could. He was just pissing me off so much I wanted to get my own shot in.”

 

His response seemed to melt her glare, her face breaking into a slight smile. “Then, thanks. We should probably leave before one of the instructors comes over though. I, personally, don’t want to get a disciplinary on my first day.”

 

“Yeah, no, I don’t want that.”

 

With the fight over, the assembled group had trickled away; the new cadets carrying their boxes up to their dorm rooms. The other senior cadet, the young woman who had laughed at him, gave him a nod as she helped the young man with a bloody nose to the infirmary. This had certainly not been what he’d imagined for his first day at the Academy. But that uneasy sensation was starting to subside as he realised he’d overcome his first challenge. He’d be _fine._

 

Carrying his box under his arm, he’d got halfway across the courtyard before he was joined by May.

 “It’s Coulson, right?”

 

He nodded, feeling something other than anxiety bloom in his stomach. “Phil.”

 

“Melinda.” This time she took his hand, shaking it once firmly before she readjusted the box at her waist. “You’re about my age, right? Graduated this summer?” Phil gave another nod. “My SO told me I was the youngest cadet by about six months. I guess you’d be runner up. So, how did SHIELD find you?”

 

Phil shrugged, although inside he was ecstatic to be able to talk to someone about this. “It’s not much of a story. I stopped a robbery at the store that I worked at; it made the front page of the local paper. Two days later Agent Fury was at my door. You?”

 

They reached the door of the accommodation block, Phil holding the door open whilst they continued their conversation. She was still smiling, making no rush to go inside. Phil considered that a good sign. “There wasn’t just one jackass, there were three. My SO patched me up, asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. You got a mean right hook, Coulson. I like that in a person.”

 

“So do you. And I like you too- I mean, I like that in a person too.”

 

Melinda laughed as she passed through the door, but hovered just inside the building. Another good sign. Phil wanted to talk some more, ask her a million questions about whether she felt as nervous as he did and what she’d done in preparation for the Academy. Garrett had been nice, a little forceful in his enthusiasm. But with Melinda he just felt comfortable. Like they were on the same page.  

 

“So I heard there’s a bonfire tonight, a bunch of the seniors trying to get the freshman drunk.” Melinda paused, brushing a long lock of brown hair over her shoulder. “Do you want to come with me? I can’t promise another fistfight, but I can promise you a beer.”

 

Phil bobbed his head. Seemed like he wasn’t the only one who wanted to keep their conversation going. “A beer sounds great. Definitely better than another fight. I guess I’ll see you later then.”

 

Melinda grinned, leaving him in the doorway as she headed in the direction of the women’s dorms. As Phil made his way back to his own room, he thought back to all the thoughts and fantasies he’d constructed about his tenure at the Academy. So far, other than the size of his room, it was completely different than expected. But Phil had a feeling it was going to be better. 


End file.
